caleb gray durham

personal thoughts

to live is christ to die is gain & all i know is Shika Baba ★★★★★

 

Go Light Your World

We need to know who we are. I am Crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me (Gal. 2:20a). He is seated in the Heavenly places (Eph. 1:3). I am there too, seated with Him in the Heavenly places (Eph. 2:6).



We are the Body of the King of Kings (1 Cor. 12:27). We are the Bride of the Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:7). We are beloved (Deut. 33:12). We are the beloved (1 Jn. 3:16). We are the beloved children of the Father of Creation (1 Jn. 3:1). We are no longer orphans (Jn. 14:18). We are adopted (Eph. 1:5). We have an inheritance (Eph. 1:14). We are chosen (2 Thes. 2:13) and set apart (2 Cor. 6:17): a royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9), a holy people (Heb. 12:10). We are deep wellsprings of living water (Jn. 7:38). We are the temple of the Living God (1 Cor. 3:16). God’s will for us is to be loved (1 Jn. 4:10), to walk in His light (1 Jn. 1:7), and to pour out His life into the world (1 Jn. 2:17), dead in it’s transgressions and sin (Eph. 2:1), making disciples of entire nations (Matt. 28:17). We are revolutionary. We have what the world needs (2 Cor. 2:14). We are called to be firebrands.


But we are a people who lack vision. Why? God has enough wisdom to give liberally (Ja. 1:5), and He delights in giving good gifts to His children (Lk. 11:13), but are we even looking? Do we ever ask? God doesn’t expect us to walk blindly. He doesn’t want us to try to live off of some dull, shallow revelation of His Word that someone explained to us once. He wants us to find our own flame. It was for the Joy that was set before Him that Christ endured the cross (Heb. 12:2). It was the Glory before His eyes that sustained Stephen through his stoning (Acts 7:55-56). It was the ability to boast in Christ that kept Paul despite the thorn in His flesh (2 Cor. 12:9). Ask God for vision. Ask for purpose. I dare you.Let’s stop building our faith around what we’ve never seen. Let’s believe God for greater things than seem possible. This morning, my pastor posed a challenging idea that I’ve thought about all day. In Acts, Scripture says that Peter was so walking in the Anointing of the Holy Spirit that his shadow was healing people (Acts 5:15). Imagine his vision for the church of the future. He probably said something along the lines of “WOW! Even my shadow is healing people. Our old tissues are delivering people from demonic strongholds (Acts 19:12). This is crazy. I can’t even imagine when we’ll begin to see the greater things that Jesus promised us (Jn. 14:12). What I’d give to see what the Church looked like in 2000 years. God’s glory really will fill the Earth like water the seas (Hab. 2:14).” What would Pete think if He saw the American church? What would he think about a legalistic religious order that hates the sinners that Jesus came to save and tries to control the government with quasi-moralistic ideologies? What would he say about a Church that has rewrapped and shelved the Gift that Jesus personally promised him? I bet he’d be surprised to find the Church (of which He is the Rock) has changed into one that looks a lot more like the religious group that crucified his best friend than the freedom that Jesus modeled and promised. I imagine He would be grieved to see the Holy Spirit forgotten and explained away. Let us put away unbelief. Let us stand in the Faith of Christ.


I think it’s time that the Church began to walk out Christ in Me, the Hope of Glory (Col. 1:27). We carry abundant life (Rom. 5:17). We have the fulness of Joy (Col. 2:10). We live under a grace covenant (Eph. 2:8). Why have we not saved our whole city? The gospel initially spread so fast. What changed? It doesn’t make sense. We need to ask our Father for Faith. We need a better understanding of the Greatness of Jesus and a keener sense of the smallness of satan (1 Jn. 4:4). You see, sin is no match for my Jesus’ love. Darkness flees at the glance of

His eye. Atheism crumbles before His matchless affection. Disease and brokenness are redeemed at the touch of His finger. Hearts are healed by His laugh. Nothing has changed except us. And technology. It should only be easier now that the entire world is only one day away. So let’s believe God for the fulfillment of the great commission in our generation. Let’s pray, intercede, and fast for the plans of Jesus for this age. We wouldn’t believe the things He has planned for our days, even if we were told. (Hab. 1:5)


So… Go and light your world. Go make disciples. Go.

6 months ago

6 months ago 1 note

Highly Favored & Blessed

Everyone wants to be used of God for great things.  We all dream of that day when we will do something that shakes the earth and changes the church forever.  We all want to be the next Martin Luthor, Billy Graham, Jim Elliot, Heidi Baker, or Reinhard Bonnke.  People we would call honored by God, highly favored, and blessed beyond measure.

What about the Prophets? John the Baptist? Joseph? Paul? Mary?  The angel told her that she was “highly favored…blessed [she was] among women” (Lk 1:28, KJV).  Hmmm.  Yes, that’s true! She was favored.  She was the first person that God Himself indwelled.  Weird, right?  But what an honor! She birthed something that changed the world forever.  But that favor and honor came with the price of shame.  In Jewish culture, honor and shame were the deciding factors in a decision, and were among the highest valued ideals in their society.  She chose a life of dishonor in exchange for something so much better. 

Joseph could have had Mary killed for her apparent infidelity. Instead, he chose to keep her as his wife.  That was a disgraceful, dishonoring decision!  But he traded honor for the opportunity to father and disciple the God of the universe! WHAT?!

Paul gave up a life as a Jew of Jews and Roman of Romans.  He was le crème de la crème. but he surrendered status and lifestyle and success to become the leader of the ones he used to torture.  He knew that it was suicide, but he realized that “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39).  So he did. 

Hosea was honored as a prophet, but was commanded to take a prostitute as a wife, and to take her back again, and again, and again, and again. John the Baptist got to prepare the way of Christ, but he was probably the weirdest person ever; his honored position looked a lot like King Nebuchadnezzar’s humiliation. The Old Testament’s Joseph was favored and chosen; his honor got him thrown in prison and slandered.  Noah’s honor made him the laugh of the town. David’s chance of anointing was less than an afterthought to his family, and even after that event, he was mocked and ridiculed.  The prophets were often running for their lives and being sustained at the brink of starvation. The apostles were almost all martyred.  Abraham was honored, but had to leave everything behind. Abel was honored and murdered because of it. 

What I’m saying is this.  Do not be afraid to be weird and step off the beaten path (it’s the narrow road that leads to salvation anyway).  Dream big. Expect big things, but also understand that we are citizens of an upside-down kingdom where “the last shall be first and the first shall be last,” where (even with all miraculous signs and wonders hailing his birth) the King of the universe was born in a manger surrounded animals, shepherds, and pagans.  Two elderly people were the only ones who saw it coming!  

What is honor usually doesn’t look like it!  To be the greatest, we make ourselves the least! After all, Jesus reminds us that He aligns himself to “the least of these brothers of mine” (Matt. 25:40) and that when we “give to the poor, [we] lend to the Lord” (Prov. 19:17).

Do not let the world’s thoughts or even the religious leaders’ opinions about you deter you from the seed God has planted in your heart.  What if Mary aborted what Holy Spirit placed within her? WHOA. What if any of these heroes of the faith chose mediocrity and the safe, established system instead of a life of dishonor (from the world’s perspective)?  What God is doing is usually different than what everyone thinks or is comfortable with.  His plan will never be popular, either with the world or the old wineskin.  He is DIAMETRICALLY opposed to every worldly way of thinking (Joshua 5:13-15).

So if you feel crazy, and are constantly reminded of the cost of discipleship, you are in good company (and you’re probably in God’s company). I believe God is calling His church to be crazy — to be so different than the world that we do stick out like a sore thumb. But I also believe He wants us to be so secure, rested, and rooted in the truth of His Word and the revelation of our place in Christ that we can clearly and powerfully give a defense for our faith.  (aside: I’m not talking about debates; that’s one of the least Gospel-centered approach to sharing truth that I’ve ever encountered. As a Christian, I’ve felt hurt by them. Let’s model humility and love, respecting others, and sharing the good news of the Gospel of the Kingdom.)  Let’s walk in God’s love and give it away! Let’s allow ourselves to revel in freedom and pursue our dreams! Let’s answer the call to preach Christ, and bring others along with us.  

6 months ago

Supremacy & Totality

Friends: Do not be fooled by any false gospel! Any message that emphasizes anything over Christ’s finished, complete work on the cross is dead religion, and is rooted in humanism, not Christianity.  That’s why Paul went to the Corinthians preaching “only Christ and Him crucified!” (1 Cor. 2:2)

There is nothing supernatural or holy about changing your behavior. That was the old covenant. We live by the Spirit of the law and of the Lord Jesus, who works from the inside out. We understand that our uncleanliness comes not from certain foods or association with disease or death, but from within us. The Israelites had no concept of an internal sin nature. For them, protecting their bodies from outside factors meant staying pure and holy before God. Jesus came preaching a message that was totally opposite. When He established His kingdom here on earth, he changed the system completely. He revealed that the death we had tried for centuries to avoid was not external or nearby, it was at our very core. But then he redeemed us totally. Our spirits are no longer dead when we are in Christ. We are totally alive. HAH! Rejoice! Get totally lost in the glory of it and never recover!

I’m going to challenge you to stop trying to be a better person. (It’ll never work for more than a few weeks, anyway.) Instead, ask Holy Spirit to teach you about the Supremacy of Christ, and chew on Galatians for a few months. When we stop working so hard and learn to focus on Jesus (as King, as Lord, as Salvation, as the Gospel itself!) we learn that the Christian life is a beautiful, joy-filled experience and our behavior starts to change without our even noticing. Jehovah Sneaky…He’ll getcha every time, if you’ll let Him distract you from your religion with His love!

Here’s what Oswald Chambers has to say:
http://utmost.org/the-supremacy-of-jesus-christ/

6 months ago

fire in my bones

i’m slowly sinking, peacefully slipping away into the depths. i sort of reach my hand out to the surface because i know that’s what i’m supposed to do in this situation, but i don’t want it. the water is strangely warm, and as it invades my body, i let it in and i begin to feel warm not because of water on my skin, but water in my veins. bubbles rocket up from somewhere deep below me. they first push me up with them and then roll me off of themselves as they race to air. funny, air trying to get to air, but i guess i’m like that too sometimes: already in community but trying so hard to get to it.

the warmth inside me grows. then it, like, glows. i don’t understand at all, but the deeper inside i get, the deeper the warmth inside gets. and the warmer i get, the warmer the depths get. depth usually gets darker, right? not here. it seems like as i breathe in water simultaneously warmer and more refreshing than i have ever felt, i experience revelation.

it’s pure light. beatifully flowing, encircling, entwining. colors i never knew existed flash before me and pulse around me. electric shocks jump from fingertip to fingertip and the glow of heat falls heavy on my hands and lips.

heavier and heavier and heavier and heavier and heavier and heavier. i can’t move. glory holds me as the pressure of the depth of light increases. then i understand.

the burden is beautiful and the oracle is a weighty, honorable, responsibility to speak. so give me words, God.

“if i say i’ll never mention the Lord or speak in His name, His word burns in my heart like a fire. it’s like a fire in my bones! i am worn out trying to hold it in! i can’t do it!”

i see reality again. i’m back in the real world, but the endwelling light doesn’t fade. it glows on and on. people are attracted to its warmth and light. and i so i speak, and water flows out of my mouth. many drink of it and are filled. laughter and joy fill the air. i smile, and slowly sink, peacefully slipping away into the depths.

8 months ago

Shika Baba

Shika Baba is a Swahili phrase that means “Hold on to the Father”. That is my only goal in life, my single passion. As I look into the face of my Father with dove’s eyes, I see that I could never understand the grace that He has for me. His love makes me dance and His power makes me tremble. 

I just love Jesus. “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven or earth given among men by which we must be saved…For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard!” (Acts 4:12 & 20) I can only worship, “For I am my Beloved’s and He is mine.” (Song of Solomon 6:3)

9 months ago 9 notes

¡Oyeme, Buenos Aires!

Te hecho de menos.  Estoy leyendo un libro sobre vos.  Es increible!  Nunca me he dado cuenta de tu historia con Cristo es tan rico!  En realidad, es muy bella.  Estoy un poco triste, porque me gustaría que me había pasado más tiempo en sus iglesias cuando era alla.  Pero está bien.  El domingo que visité la iglesia Rey de Reyes era buenisimo, y la mensaje era sobre el Señor como nuestro pastor y Su deseo para nosotros (Salmo 23) para resto y silencio era exactamente que yo había necesitado.

Cuando era tiempo para regresar a los Estados Unidos, no me pensada que extrañaría vos, pero un año mas tarde, aquí yo estoy, y memorias de tus calles y tus avenidas, tus cafés y tus mátes, tus huelgas y tus celebraciones, tus pasiones y tus creencias, y tus personas y tus personalidades están inundando mi mente y corazón.

Un día, voy a regresar, Buenos Aires.  Tenés mi corazón.  ¡Oyeme, Buenos Aires!  Voy a regresar, y un otra vez, voy a caminar tu manera.

Pero ahora es tiempo para preparar para Peru, y en las palabras de Walter Salles, “The Peruvian faces are completely different from that faces in Argentina.”  Perfecto. :)

1 year ago